How to Case Your First Deal

"Casing" a deal is the off-market hunt — finding a property before it ever hits the MLS, understanding it, and locking it up. This is the core skill of the whole game, and it's the same hunt whether you wholesale it or hold it. Here's the path.

Heads up: Squatters is a software platform and community, not legal, tax, or investment advice. Wholesaling and assignment rules vary by state and several states changed their laws recently — know your local rules before you contract. The Academy covers this in depth.

1. Find it

Off-market means the distressed, absentee, probate, tax-delinquent, or equity-rich seller nobody else is talking to. Use Recon to study a market and surface signal.

2. Comp it

Pull comparable sales to estimate the ARV (after-repair value). The Academy teaches the math — ARV, repair estimate, and MAO (maximum allowable offer) — and you can drill it on real parcels.

3. Reach the owner

Skip-trace to find contact info, then make the seller call. The Academy's "4 Pillars of the Seller Call" walks you through it, and Bandit (premium) can help you draft compliant, respectful outreach. Always honor TCPA/DNC rules.

4. Make the offer & lock it up

Run your numbers, make an offer the seller can say yes to, and get it under contract. That's "squatting" the deal — locking it up like it's already yours.

5. Fund it & own it

From here you fund it and own it — or assign it, flip it, or hold it depending on your play. As you close, your bag grows and you climb toward Hood Rich.

Practice first

You don't have to do this live on day one. Run the Academy drills on real Recon parcels — same math, zero risk — until the moves are second nature. Then bring it to the Block and let your crew sharpen it.

Squat it. Fund it. Own it. 🦝